The concept of a monorail in a conveying system is known art A monorail provides an effective transportation system for conveying objects especially when the objects are to be conveyed through a known path of determinant length. Monorail systems are known in various applications including auto part transport, galvanizing, material transport along a work line, and parcel sorting just to name a few.
In one particular commercially available institutional dishwashing system, dirty dishes intended to be washed by the dishwasher must be manually loaded by a worker. This particular dishwashing system includes a roller based conveyor system for moving dirty dishes to the dishwasher, normally by loading the dirty dishes onto plastic wash racks suitable for the conveyor. The dirty dishes are loaded into the wash racks by a worker using a pivoting loading device. After the plastic wash racks are loaded, these are fed directly into the dishwasher by means of the conveyor.
In another known institutional dishwashing system, a nearly complete loop conveys dishes to a dishwasher by means of a series of rollers. These rollers are stepped in such a way so that gravity ensures that the dishes reach the dishwasher. This dishwashing system is further equipped with controls to stop the dishes from being conveyed in the case of an emergency.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a monorail system for carrying objects, such as dishes, between loading and unloading stations which is relatively inexpensive to build and maintain and which causes a tray used to hold the objects to tilt from the horizontal at the loading or unloading station to make it easier to load or unload the objects.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved dishwashing system that includes a dishwasher unit and a monorail-type conveyor extending through this unit and capable of moving dishes through the unit.